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Friday, March 16, 2012

Fantastically Fun Fridays: March 16, 2012

Happy Friday, everyone! We hope that this week, which includes both Pi Day and St. Patrick's Day, has been a fun and exciting one for you all.

So, this falls under the category of "taking-a-stand-without-knowing-the-full-story," but several news outlets have reported this week on various well-loved pubs and eating establishments with "hobbit" in their names that are being threatened with legal action by Hollywood--something that I find ridiculous. The Saul Zantz Company (SZC) owns the merchandising rights to The Hobbit film, and so they are taking this as the opportunity to require places like The Hobbit in Southampton, England, and The Hungry Hobbit in Birmingham, England to change their names and remove all references to The Lord of the Rings. As the folks at TorrentFreak kindly point out, however, the term "hobbit" predates Tolkien, making this whole thing even more absurd. The good news that that support for these places has been strong--including actor Stephen Fry calling the whole thing "pointless, self-defeating bullying." And that's from a man who is in the movie. Fortunately, SZC seems willing to resolve this amicably (and cheaply), hoping to avoid a total PR disaster. Good plan. It's a bad idea to get in between hobbits and their second breakfasts. And elevenses.

1 comment:

(We have just finished dinner at my husband’s parent’s house. I am randomly poking and tickling him. He is giggling and fighting me off. He suddenly raises his hand and waves it at me.)Husband: “AVADA KEDAVRA!”Me: *gasps in shock* “Did… did you just use the killing curse against me?”Husband: “I was desperate.”His father: “Don’t use killing curses against your wife.”